We live in an age where the biggest animal to have ever lived is still very much alive. The blue whale is an amazing animal that’s nearly 100 feet long! It can weigh 396,000 pounds, and its heart alone is the size of a small car.
Recent Discoveries
While it’s undisputed that the blue whale is the biggest animal ever, recent discoveries in Peru could debunk this theory and dethrone it for a much more ancient cousin.
Mario Urbina
A paleontologist’s hard work in the deserts of southern Peru finally paid off in 2010. Mario Urbina had been searching the Peruvian desert for fossils and had spent 40 years dedicating his life to unearthing long-lost animals.
Extracting The Fossil
After Mario Urbina found the fossil, word spread quickly, and a team came out to start digging it out. It took many years to extract the specimen and with how large the fossil was, it was no easy task.
Was It The Biggest Animal Ever?
Eventually, they moved the vertebrae to the Natural History Museum in Lima, where people can view the animal’s fossilized bones. But there’s still speculation that it was the biggest animal ever to walk the Earth.
A Partial Skeleton
Once Mario and the team better understood the fossil, they realized it was more than just the vertebrae. The colossal animal had gifted them thirteen vertebrae, a complete hip bone, and some ribs. But its fossilized bones were heavier than they could have imagined.
Heavy Bones
When an animal’s skeleton is fossilized, minerals creep into every part of the bone, hardening it and making it heavier. Despite this, the animal clearly had heavy bones even when it was alive. The largest vertebrae weighed 440 pounds.
A Massive Fossil
The ancient contender was only a partial fossil, but that was enough to speculate on how big the entire animal was. From what researchers can see, it could have been bigger than the blue whale when it still lived 40 million years ago.
Perucetus Colossus
The whale has been aptly named Perucetus colossus because of its massive size. The fossil was found in the desert and is estimated to have weighed around 180 tons (396,000 pounds) when it was alive. This is still smaller than the smallest blue whale ever recorded, which weighed 190 tons (418,878 pounds).
It Could Have Been Bigger
Despite the ancient fossil being smaller than the biggest blue whale, researchers think other examples of this animal could have been much bigger. They believe it could have weighed anywhere from 190,000 pounds to an unimaginable 750,000 pounds.
Not The Biggest Of Its Kind
Eli Amson, a co-author of the study, speculates that there’s no reason that this fossil is the biggest of its kind and that there were likely much bigger examples lost to time.
“The Ballpark Of The Blue Whale”
Amson went on record saying, “I think there’s a good chance that some of the individuals broke the record — but the take-home message is that we are in the ballpark of the blue whale.”
More Are Likely To Be Found
The Perucetus colossus could likely have been larger than the blue whale, but it’s only a scientific estimation right now without any more examples of the fossil found yet. As time goes on, more fossils may be found.
Source:
Ancient whale from Peru may be most massive animal ever on Earth
Stay connected with us for more stories like this! Follow us to get the latest updates or hit the Follow button at the top of this article, and let us know what you think by leaving your feedback below. We’d love to hear from you!
